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May 20 (UPI) – The moon has two faces – the smoothest face, facing the Earth, and the rougher face, the dark face of the moon, marked by thousands of craters. Scientists now know why the moon's hemispheres are so different.
According to a new study, an old collision between a dwarf planet and the moon would have left a scar on half of the lunar surface.
Scientists have already suggested that Earth hosts two moons that merged billions of years ago. Planetary scientists have also discussed the possibility of a collision between a dwarf planet and the moon.
If the moon has actually crashed on a dwarf planet during the early days of the solar system, the structure of the lunar crust should reveal the signature of such a collision.
The researchers were able to locate such a signature with the help of investigations on the gravitational field of the moon.
"The detailed gravimetric data obtained by GRAIL has allowed for a better understanding of the structure of the lunar crust below the surface," said Meng Hua Zhu, a researcher at the Institute of Space Sciences of the USSR. University of Science and Technology of Macau, in a press release.
Scientists conducted dozens of simulations of different impact scenarios to determine the type of collision generating crustal structures similar to those currently found on the Moon.
The models showed a collision between the moon and a slightly smaller object than the dwarf planet Ceres offers the best explanation for both sides of the moon. Interestingly, simulations suggest that the dwarf planet collided with the near side of the moon. The impact projected huge amounts of debris that lay on the far side of the moon.
Scientists argue that the presence of an event of such magnitude explains why the hidden face of the moon's crust is significantly thicker than that of the near face. This also explains the crater shortage in the hemisphere facing the Earth.
The new impact scenario could also help to explain the differences between isotopes of potassium, phosphorus and rare earth elements such as tungsten 182 measured on Earth and Moon surfaces.
The researchers detailed the results of the lunar impact simulations this week in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. The results could help planetary scientists explain the structural dichotomies of others
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